Infertility Fight Too Costly for Some

“We’ve got ten million won in debt, just to get fertility treatment. This time, we must succeed.”

Kim Hyeon-suk (alias, 27) visited a gynecologist in Ulsan to get her human menopausal gonadotropin (HMG), or ovulation inducing treatment. She has already gotten over 100 shots.

After failing at artificial insemination twice, she applied for a test-tube baby earlier this month. For this, she must still get 10 more shots.

Kim, who married her husband (36) in 2001, feels uncomfortable whenever she sees her father-in-law, the only son for four generations.

She has already paid over 100,000 won for doctors’ fees and medications each time, and over 2,000,000 won for artificial insemination. To pay the hospital fees, her husband works on weekends as well, but with a salary of 1,500,000 won, it is not enough to pay the fees.

Kim says, “Families with infertility problems have debts of as much as tens of millions of won, and since fertility treatment isn’t included in health insurance, it takes a big toll.”

Infertile patients go through a lot of economic troubles. According to results of a 2003 poll taken by the Korean Institute for Health and Social Affairs on 6,393 fertile, married women 15-44 years of age, 26.6% have quit receiving fertility treatments due to the cost burden. Out of these people, 83.2% answered that treatment fees cast a very serious influence on their family’s account.

Artificial insemination costs around 1,000,000 won, including an operation and medication fees. Test-tube baby treatments cost around 3,000,000 won. It is the experts’ opinions that artificial insemination should be done 8-9 times, and that test-tube baby treatments should be done 3-4 times to take effect.

The National Health Corporation revealed that infertility patients rose from 52,816 in 2000, to 132,365 last year in six years. The number has almost tripled. Ironically, in a society where decreasing birth rates are becoming an issue, these are people who are not able to get fertility treatments due to costs.

This year with a total of 46.5 billion won in budget, the government has decided to support selected 16,426 infertile women with up to 3,000,000 won each per year.

However, due to harsh application conditions, the application rate for this reached only 78.9 percent until May 31, the due date. The qualifications are: be an infertile couple under age 45, with a monthly average income of under 80 percent of a laborer. (2,420,000 won for a two-person family)

Government aid is limited to test-tube baby procedures. Choi Dong-hee, professor of infertility center at Bundang CHA General Hospital in Gyeonggi, remarked, “The test-tube baby procedure is the last phase of fertility treatment. Government aid should be widened to include early diagnosis, ovulation inducing treatments, and artificial insemination.”

Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Support for Childbirth Department head Kim Hye-sun said, “With an account that is in the red, it is difficult to support a program lacking in urgency like the fertility treatment program. Aid for infertile couples will be increased step-by-step, to 6,000,000 won in 2010.”

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